Bread and Tomato Soup

Everyone who is growing tomato plants needs to have this recipe!



from Jamie’s Italy
500g/1lb2oz ripe cherry tomatoes
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
a large bunch of fresh basil, leaves picked, stems chopped
olive oil
sea salt and fresh ground pepper
2x400g good quality tins of tomatoes
500g/1lb2oz good quality bread, stale

Prick the cherry tomatoes, and toss with one sliced clove of garlic, and a quarter of the basil leaves. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper, put in a roasting tray and bake at 180c/350f for 20 min.
In a large pot, heat the oil and add the remaining garlic, and the basil stalks. Stir for a minute till soft, add the tinned tomatoes, fill the tins with water and add that, break up the tomatoes with a spoon. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 min.
Tear the bread into thumb sized pieces, and add to the pot. Mix and season. Tear in the basil and sit over low heat for 10 min. Pour in the cherry tomatoes with all their liquid, and give it a good stir.

This is another recipe that I used to make all the time before the year long cooking challenge started. When I started making a new recipe every day, this one got left behind, so I thought I would revisit it, and see if it lived up to the memory after all the recipes that I have tried and all of the things that I have learned.

It did!

If you are growing your own tomatoes, then this has got to be the cheapest soup in the world to make, as all you’ll really need is some fresh basil, and some stale bread.

The texture of it is sort of thick and sticky like porridge, but also very silky and smooth at the same time. You could probably eat it with a fork it’s so thick, and the flavour is amazing. The fresh basil, and the fresh roasted tomatoes really make it taste summer-y, even though it is filling enough to be a winter dish (if you could get decent tomatoes in the winter).

The recipe is simple and fast too. One thing I noticed is that it may not need to go a full 10 minutes in that last step, you don’t want it to start burning on the bottom.
This one was as good if not better then I remembered. I am not going to lose sight of it again.

Yellow split pea and frankfurter soup

1 onion
1 carrot
1 clove of garlic
1 stick of celery
2-3 tbsp vegetable oil
½ tsp ground mace
500g yellow split peas
1.25-1.5 litres chicken or veg stock
2 bay leaves
approx. 8 frankfurters

Peel the onion, carrot and garlic. Roughly cut up the onion, carrot and celery, and put them, with the garlic into a food processor and blitz till finely chopped.
Heat the oil in a heavy based wide saucepan on medium heat, add the chopped vegetables and cook for 5-10 min, until soft but not colored

Add the ground mace – this may be a small amount but it’s crucial to the taste – give it a good stir and then add the split peas, and stir again until the are glossily mixed with the oil slicked, cooked down vegetables. Pour over 1.25 liters of stock and add the bay leaves, then bring to the boil. Cover, turn down the heat and cook for about an hour until everything is tender and sludgy, adding more stock as needed. Taste for seasoning once everything is ready. Slice up the frankfurters and throw them into the soup to warm.


This soup was from the Nigella Lawson book Feast.

I bought a pack of hot dogs the other day on a whim, but never got around to making them. We were going to just have them for lunch over the weekend but then I remembered seeing this recipe, and wanting to try it.

There was some confusion about the split peas. The pack I bought said that they had to be soaked overnight. I thought I remembered that split peas don’t really need to be soaked, and the recipe didn’t say anything about it, so I figured I’d just give it a go with the dried un-soaked peas. It worked perfectly. So well in fact that I plan to keep a bag of split peas around for any day when I just don’t know what to make.

This soup is incredibly simple and could easily be made without the hot dogs, which means that it could be made totally vegetarian, and out of staples and store cupboard ingredients. That alone makes it great find. On top of that, it’s also really tasty and comforting and filling.

This one is an all around winner.

Harira (lamb, chickpea and spinach soup)

200g dried chickpeas
1tsp bicarb of soda
3tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, cut into 1cm dice
200g lamb neck fillet, cut into 1cm dice
2tbsp tomato puree
1tbsp caster sugar
1kg tinned chopped tomatoes
1.2 litres chicken stock or water
juice of 1 lemon
1tsp ground cumin
1tsp ground ginger
a pinch of saffron strands
100g baby spinach
4tbsp roughly chopped coriander
4-6 lemon wedges
salt and black pepper

Start preparing the soup the night before by putting the dried chickpeas in a large bowl with the bicarbonate of soda and covering them with plenty of cold water – it should cover the chickpeas by at least twice their height. Leave at room temperature to soak overnight.
The next day, drain the soaked chickpeas, place in a large saucepan and cover with plenty of fresh water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 1-1 ½ hours, until the chickpeas are tender. Drain through a colander and leave to one side.

Place a large saucepan over medium heat and add the olive oil. Add the onion and fry until soft and translucent. Increase the heat, add the diced lamb and cook for 2-3 minutes, until the lamb is sealed on all sides and has taken on a bit of colour. Add the tomato puree and sugar and mix well. Cook for 2 min, then add the chopped tomatoes, drained chickpeas, stock or water, and some salt and pepper.
Bring the soup to the boil and reduce the heat to a simmer. Use a large spoon to skim off any scum that forms on the surface, then cook for about 35 min, until the meat is tender.
Squeeze the lemon juice into the soup. Season the soup with the ground cumin, ginger, and saffron. Taste and adjust the salt and pepper.
When ready to serve, bring the soup back to the boil. Wash and drain the spinach leaves, and chop them roughly. Add the spinach and coriander to the soup just before you bring it to the table.
Serve with a wedge of lemon.

One last one from Ottolenghi The Cookbook. This book is so great.

This is a lovely soup. It’s got that fresh clean taste that lemon and coriander always bring, but it is also quite hearty because of the chick peas and the lamb.

I liked that it didn’t use too much lamb. Enough that everyone had some, but not so much that it was overpowering.

The most amazing thing about this soup, was that the boys ate all of it. They loved it, even the spinach. They even asked for more.

I’d make this one again.

Pork Noodle Soup with Cinnamon and Anise

very pretty, rich and hearty.

By Cookbad

I've been thinking about and making a lot of stock lately. We just finished the first major draft of the stock chapter in our book. We pretty much stuck to the classic French style stocks.

I decided to make this soup, because the stock was so much different than what I had been thinking about and making. simple, straight forwards and spiced in ways that I hadn't ever spiced a stock before.

I always like to do a little search about different ways of making what I am about to cook and I came across Master Stock in the process. It's a Chinese practice of poaching meat in the same broth over and over and over--sometimes using the same stock for years.

I'm both repulsed and intrigued.

Anyway, this recipe is from December 2007 Gourmet magazine.
You can also find it here:
Pork Noodle Soup with Cinnamon and Anise
2 1/2 pounds country-style pork ribs
6 cups water
2/3 cup soy sauce
2/3 cup Chinese Shaoxing wine or medium-dry Sherry
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 head garlic, halved crosswise
3 (3-inch) cinnamon sticks
1 whole star anise
5 1/2 ounces bean thread (cellophane) noodles

Garnish: chopped cilantro; sliced scallions
Preparation

Gently simmer all ingredients except noodles in a 6-quart heavy pot, covered, skimming as needed, until pork is very tender, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Transfer pork to a bowl. Discard bones, spices, and garlic. Coarsely shred meat. Skim fat from broth, then return meat and bring to a simmer. Rinse noodles, then stir into broth and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until noodles are translucent and tender, about 6 minutes.

Loved it. Inexpensive and hearty. Perfect winter one dish meal.

Thai Spicy Chicken soup

2 stalks fresh lemongrass
1.5 liters homemade chicken stock, or store bought fresh stock
2tbsp coarsely chopped fresh galangal root, or ginger
6 fresh Kaffir lime leaves, shredded, or 2Tbsp lime zest
225g boneless, skinless chicken thighs, or 450g unboned thighs
3tbsp finely slice shallots
3tbsp fish sauce, or light soy sauce
2tbsp lime juice
1tbsp sugar
2 small red or green thai chilies, seeded and finely chopped
handful of fresh coriander leaves

Peel the lemongrass stalks to the tender whitish center and crush with the flat of a knife. Then cut into 3 inch pieces. In a large pot, combine the lemongrass, stock, galangal, and lime leaves, then cover and simmer gently for 1 hour 20 minutes. Strain the liquid and discard the lemongrass, galangal, and lime leaves. Return the liquid to the pot.
If you are using unboned thighs, remove the skin and bones, and cut into 1 inch chunks. Add the chicken to the soup together with the shallots, fish sauce, lime juice and sugar and simmer for 25 min. Stir in the chillies and coriander, turn into a large tureen and serve at once.

This is another Ken Hom recipe.

This is not terribly quick because you need to infuse all the flavors into the stock, but that’s not a terribly big effort either. If you are going to be around for a couple of hours, this is the kind of recipe that you can manage while doing whatever else you need to be doing. Put some stuff in a pot, go about your business, put some more stuff in a pot, finish whatever you were doing. Easy.

It’s really good too. Very fresh and lite. It’s a nice change from traditional western chicken soup.

Tom Yum Noodle Soup

1tbsp sunflower oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves
140g button mushrooms, sliced
1 red pepper, seeded and sliced
2tsp Thai red curry paste
700ml vegetable stock
1tbsp soy sauce
zest of 1 lime, and juice of ½
125g egg noodles
220g can bamboo shoots, drained
handful of fresh coriander

Heat the oil in a pan and fry the onion until golden. Stir in the garlic, mushrooms, and red pepper and fry for 3 minutes. Add the Thai curry paste and cook for 1 min. Stir in the stock, soy sauce, and grated lime zest. Simmer for 3 min.
Add the noodles to the pan and bring to the boil. Simmer for 4 min, until they are cooked. Add the bamboo shoots and most of the coriander and cook for 2 min.
Divide the noodles between two soup bowls. Add the lime juice to the broth and season to taste. Pour over the noodles, scatter the remaining coriander over and serve.

I got this from Good Food 101 veggie Dishes.

There was someone out there that asked me about vegetarian recipes that used soba noodles. I hope you’re still reading, because this is a really good one. You don’t need to use Soba noodles if you can’t find them, but they worked really well with this.

It doesn’t say what to do with the garlic, so I sliced it. I think dicing would be fine too, but leaving it whole didn’t seem like a good idea since there isn’t actually that much cooking time. Also, I thought I had a tin of bamboo shoots, but I didn’t, so I used baby corn instead. It worked just fine. I’m not sure how easy it is to find Thai red curry paste in the States, but out here it’s in most grocery stores.

This recipe was really really good. I loved it! It wasn’t quite like the Tom Yum soup we used to get when we went out. It was less spicy, and had slightly fewer things in it. Still, you can easily make it more spicy if you want to, and add more things if you want too. This is fast and easy and cheap and delicious. The combination of lime and coriander is impossible for me to resist. I will definitely make this again, it was too good.

Red Pepper Soup

3Tbsp olive oil
5 red peppers roasted and peeled
3 onions, diced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp sweet paprika
1tsp dark muscovado sugar
850ml homemade chicken stock
salt
juice of ½ to 1 lemon – to taste
4tbsp single cream

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan, add the peppers, onions and garlic, and fry gently until the onions become soft and translucent.
Sprinkle with the spices together with the sugar and stir over the heat for 1 min.
Next add the chicken stock, the real thing please, a stock cube will leave the soup tasting thin and salty, and simmer for 10 min.
Transfer the soup to a blender and process until smooth, then strain if you like, and season with salt and lemon juice to taste.
Reheat the soup with the cream just before serving. Take care not to let it boil or your cream will split. If you are a catty cook, and I speak from experience, then perhaps a dollop of double cream is a safer option – you can boil I to death with no ill effect.

I should admit right off the bat that I did not make my own stock. I just didn’t. I made sure to use a really good high quality, low sodium brand though. I know that when stock reduces it can become horribly over salty if you don’t start with a low salt version. I also used the double cream instead of single. Partly it was just because it was the kind of cream I happened to have in the house, but also, I do like that fact that I can boil it and not watch it and not worry about it.

This was another one from The Real Taste of Spain, and it’s another winner. The flavor was lovely, even my son (who is having a bit of a picky phase), said he liked it.

I roasted the peppers using the tip from the same book. Interesting, it didn’t give a temperature or a time, it just said to put the peppers in the oven, and leave them in until the skins go all bubbly. It mentioned that slower cooking will make the flavor better. That actually made it really easy. When they are done, just pop them into a zip lock bag, seal it up and let them cool (you could also use a bowl covered in cling film). The skins slide right off no problem. I found this to be worlds easier them doing it on the open flame of the hob, which is what most of the tips I’ve seen have suggested. This was low pressure, low maintenance. Also it can be done way in advance, then the soup is super fast and super easy to put together.

This is all good stuff, and I am really liking this book.

Hassan’s Celery and white bean soup

250g dried cannelloni beans, soaked in cold water overnight (or 650g cooked beans – drained weight)
10 Tbsp (150ml) olive oil
1 large head of celery with leaves, trimmed of roots, then sliced across into 2cm chunks
8 spring onions, green tops included, sliced into 1 cm rounds
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1tsp caraway seeds, lightly crushed (optional)
500g favoursome tomatoes, blanched, peeled, and seeded, then roughly chopped
1tsp celery salt

To serve
Extra virgin olive oil
A squeeze of lemon juice
4-6 whole spring onions, trimmed
a small bunch of any of the following: Rocket, sorrel, and radish
a small bowl of oily black olives
Turkish bread

Drain the soaked beans and place in a saucepan, with plenty of fresh water. Bring to a boil and simmer gently for approximately 1 hour, or until tender, skimming off any scum and topping up the water as necessary. Season with salt and set aside.
Meanwhile place a large saucepan over medium heat and add 6 Tbsp of olive oil. When it is hot, add the celery and cook for 10 min, stirring often. Now add the spring onions, garlic, caraway if using, and a good pinch of salt. Cook for 10 -15 min, stirring every now and then, until the vegetables are soft and beginning to caramelize. Add the tomatoes and half the celery salt, and cook for a further 5 min. Drain the beans, reserving 250ml of their cooking liquor, and stir them into the pan, with the reserved liquor, or water, and the remaining 4 Tbsp of olive oil. Bring to a simmer, season with salt, if needed, and pepper and cook for another 5 min. Check the seasoning once more.

Serve with a generous drizzle of olive oil, a squeeze of lemon, and the remaining celery salt on top. Eat with alternate mouthfuls of spring onions, greens, black olives and bread, as these accompaniments are very much part of the experience.

Note:
To make your own celery salt, place a handful of green celery leaves on a baking tray, and dry in a low-medium oven, moving them around till completely dry, but not scorched. Crumble to a powder with your fingers, removing any long veins, and mix with equal parts (by eye) of Maldon salt.

This was from Moro East. I have their orignial book (Moro) too, but I prefer this one. The first book was from their restaurant, and I felt like the food was more restaurant then good home cooking. That said, I still have every intention of trying it, because with a book as wonderful as this one, I can’t imagine that they have a bad book in the lot.

This soup was stunning. It was just the kind of soup I prefer, super chunky and thick, and the beans make it very comforting as well. It says that the caraway seeds are optional, but I don’t believe that they are, I think they are necessary. It’s just such a lovely blend of flavors.

I made some Turkish Flat breads to go with it (I’ll do the recipe for them at some point). They weren’t tough to make, and they went very nicely with the soup, but I think that any bread would, if you can’t get Turkish. DO follow the serving suggestions though, because the olives and the bread and the greens really make this a wonderful feast, rather then just a wonderful soup.

The note about making celery salt is excellent too. It took no time to do, my son really enjoyed helping and now I know what to do with celery leaves from now on.

Good recipe, good tips, good all around.

Spiced Red lentil soup w/crispy onion garnish

2Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2tsp ground cumin
175g red lentils
1 bay leaf
1tsp dried oregano
2 tsp ground turmeric
2tbsp tomato puree
1 liter hot stock or water
salt, black pepper
Juice of 1/2 lemon

For the Crispy Onions:
2tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely sliced
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely sliced
1 tsp ground coriander
4tbsp roughly chopped fresh coriander, or flat leaf parsley

4tbsp thick yogurt to serve

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring until softened, about 5 min. Stir in the garlic and cumin and cook until the onions smell really garlicky and spicy, about 2 min. Then tip in the lentils, bay, oregano, turmeric, and tomato puree, give it all a good stir, and pour in the hot stock or water. Bring to a boil and simmer steadily, stirring every now and then for about 40 min, until the lentils have collapsed to a thick, smoothish puree. Thin with water if necessary, and add salt and pepper to taste.

While the soup is cooking, make the crispy onions. Heat the oil in a non stick pan over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring, until thoroughly wilted and browned, about 15 min. Stir in the garlic and coriander, and cook for about 5 more min, to crisp the garlic, and toast the coriander.

Just before serving, stir the lemon juice into the hot soup. Serve with a dollop of yogurt, then sprinkle with herbs and crispy spiced onion.

This dish was gorgeous!

I was looking for a way to use up some red lentils that I had laying around, and I found this in Favourite Recipes Books For Cooks. This book is so good, I’ve not had a bad recipe from it yet.

The soup it’s self was beautifully flavored, similar to the Mulligatawny soup that we used to get at Indian restaurants in New York (it’s not really the same when you get it in London, it’s also harder to find). The texture was very comforting, and the crispy onion garnish really put it over the top.

When I first started cooking I never used to make the garnish on dishes like this, I was under the impression that it was just for show, but the flavor and texture of the herbed darkened onions are very definitely more then just pretty.

I whole heartedly recommend this recipe, even if you don’t have the lentils laying around.

Onion Soup

A good knob of butter
Olive oil
A good handful of fresh sage leaves, 8 leaves reserved for serving
6 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
5 red onions peeled and sliced
3 large white onions, peeled and sliced
3 banana shallots, peeled and sliced
300g leeks, trimmed washed and sliced
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 liters good quality stock
8 slices of good quality stale bread
200g freshly grated Cheddar Cheese
Worcestershire Sauce

Put the butter, 2 glugs of olive oil, the sage and garlic into a thick bottomed, non-stick pan. Stir everything around and add the onions, shallots and leeks. Season with salt and pepper. Place a lid on the pan, leaving it slightly ajar, and cook slowly for 50 min, without coloring the vegetables too much. Remove the lid for the last 20 min. Stir occasionally so that nothing catches on the bottom.
When your onions are lovely and silky, add the stock. Bring to a boil, turn the heat down and simmer for 10-15 min. You can skim the fat off the surface, or leave it there to add flavor.
Preheat the oven or grill to maximum. Toast your bread on both sides. Correct the seasoning of the soup, then ladle it into heatproof bowls and place them onto a baking tray. Tear toasted bread over each bowl to fit it like a lid. Feel free to push or dunk the bread into the soup a bit. Sprinkle with some grated cheddar and drizzle over a little Worcestershire sauce.
Dress your reserved sage leaves with some olive oil and place one on top of each slice of bread. Put the baking tray into the preheated oven or under the grill to melt the cheese till bubbling and golden.

This was from Jamie at Home. It was fun to make because of the cheese under the grill part, the slicing a million or so onions was not quite as much fun, but you could use a food processor to do that part.

This came out really wonderfully, both the soup it’s self, and the fabulous grilled bread and cheese top (which is why I always loved this soup so much when I was younger). Apparently the key is using as many different types of onions as you can get your hands on, for the variety of flavor.

One quick warning though, the leftovers, if you have any, turn a really strange and unappetizing color. I think it’s the red onions that do that. I’d recommend making a half a batch, unless there are a lot of you eating it.

Tomato soup

1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1 carrot, peeled and coarsely grated
A handful of fresh basil, leaves picked, stalks finely chopped
Olive oil
6 Tbsp double cream
1 tsp red wine vinegar
2 egg yolks
1kg super ripe tomatoes
1.1 liters/2 pints chicken or vegetable stock
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Put the onion, garlic, carrot and basil stalks into a large pot with a couple of lugs of olive oil. Cover the pan and simmer gently without coloring for 20 min, stirring every couple of minutes. Whisk together the cream, vinegar and egg yolks in a small bowl and leave to one side. While the veg are simmering, drop the tomatoes in boiling water for 30 seconds, then remove the skins and roughly chop the flesh. Add these to the veg, then pour in the stock and simmer for a further 20 min with the lid on. At this point it’s nice to puree the soup using either a food processor, a liquidizer, or a hand held blender, but be careful, as it will be hot. Once it’s pureed, bring it back to a simmer and season very carefully with salt and pepper.

Just before serving, to enrich the soup and give it a shine and silky texture, whisk in the cream mixture (don’t reboil it after adding the egg yolks or it will scramble) and serve straight away, sprinkled with a few torn up basil leaves if you like.


Any one who has kids knows that in those early school years, you catch every cold that goes around. In the midst of the most recent one, I got a strong craving for some tomato soup. I always find it to be the most comforting when I’m flu-y, and we happened to have a batch of tomatoes that we grew sitting around.

Just as an aside, that makes it sound like I’m a really earthy gardening sort, which is not true. I hope to be someday, and these tomatoes were a first step in that direction. We managed to get some fresh parsley, thyme and we almost had cucumbers, but some roving animal ate them all down to the nubs right when they were about to be ready for picking…

Anyway, I looked to Jamie Oliver, and I found this soup.

I didn’t have any cream, so I used some crème fraiche instead. In such a small amount I didn’t think it would make a big difference.

It was spot on perfect. This was the ideal of tomato soup. This was like a day off to rest, in a bowl. It was just what I needed, and in the future, when ever I have a cold, I am going to have to make a batch of this. My husband said that this soup alone is a good reason to grow more tomatoes next year.

By the way, I only had half the amount of tomatoes needed, and a half batch comes out fine.

Tortilla Soup

1 large onion, cut into chunks
3 large tomatoes
3 garlic cloves, peeled
4tbsp olive oil
1 litre/1&3/4 pints chicken stock
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
6x1day old tortillas
Oil for shallow frying
2 fresh red or green chillies, seeded and chopped
To Serve:
Chopped avocado
Sour cream
Lime wedges

Put the onion chunks, tomatoes, and garlic cloves in a baking dish and roast in a preheated oven at 180/350 for 15-20 min, until the vegetables are soft and the tomato skins are beginning to look black and charred. Skin the tomatoes and puree with onions and garlic in a blender or food processor.
Heat 2 tbsp of the oil and sauté the puree mixture for a few minutes. Simmer until it is thick and reduced. Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, season with salt and pepper and simmer, covered for 15-20 minutes.
Cut the tortillas into thin strips and shallow fry in some oil until golden brown. Drain on some absorbent kitchen paper and then add to the soup. Simmer gently for a further 5 min.
Fry the chillies in the remaining oil in a small frying pan until crisp. Serve the soup garnished with the fried chilli, some of the chopped avocado, sour cream and lime wedges.

This was from a book called Essential Mexican Cookery . This is a good basic beginner book for Mexican cooking. The recipes don’t call for any ingredients that are terribly hard to find, and I get the feeling that it is more of an overview of Mexican cooking. If you’ve never tried Mexican cooking before, this book is definitely non-threatening. Also, I have really enjoyed the dishes I’ve made from it. I don’t know if they are the most authentic or not, but they have been consistently tasty.

This soup was lovely. The crispy bits of tortilla soak up all the soup and make it feel really hearty, and the roasting of the vegetables gives it a wonderful depth of flavor. I totally loved this. I had tortilla soup in a restaurant once and it was more of a clear broth type soup, where as this is more of a thick hearty one. I think both work for me.

Aromatic Pork Belly Hot Pot

1.5kg Pork belly, with the rind on
About 1.5 liters Pork or chicken stock, if available, otherwise water
12 spring onions
100ml light soy sauce
75ml Chinese rice wine
25ml rice wine vinegar
2tbsp soft light brown sugar
3 star anise
10cm piece of fresh ginger root, peeled and sliced into rounds
a good pinch of dried chili flakes

Remove the bones from the pork belly and cut into rectangular chunks, about 2.5x5cm. Put them in a large pan, pour over enough boiling water just to cover, then bring back to the boil. Simmer gently for about 5 min, skimming off the scum that rises to the surface, then drain through a colander. Rinse out the pan if necessary, return the pork to it and pour over enough boiling stock or water to cover it again. Cut 5 of the spring onions in half and add to the pan with the soy sauce, rice wine, vinegar, sugar, star anise, ginger and chili flakes. Stir well and bring back to the boil. Reduce heat, cover tightly and simmer very slowly for about 2 hours, turning the meat occasionally, until the pork is very tender, soft and succulent.
Remove the pork with a slotted spoon and set aside. Strain the cooking liquid into a clean pan, skim off as much fat as you can (but don’t worry about leaving a little), then boil the stock hard to reduce and concentrate the flavors. It should be lightly syrupy and intensely aromatic, but don’t over reduce as the soy sauce could make it too salty.
Meanwhile, thinly slice the remaining spring onions on the diagonal. Return the pork to the sauce and heat through. Serve over plain noodles in warmed soup bowls, with plenty of the broth ladled over and the sliced spring onions scattered on top of the meat.

This was from The River Cottage Meat Book which I am absolutely and totally in love with right now.

I had great fun with this recipe. I had never bought belly pork before, so I asked my butcher what exactly it looks like, so I could decide if I wanted it or not. He disappeared into the back, and the reemerged with what looked like the whole bottom of a pig. It was still vaguely pig shaped. It was really cool to see exactly what I was getting. I would recommend going to a good butcher for this, they’ll be able to help you out. I got to see the whole chunk of meat that I wanted, and then he boned it and cut it up for me too because it’s a bit of a job when the meat still has the rind on. My knives aren’t that good.

The actual cooking was super easy. It takes awhile, but doesn’t require all that much effort. I used about 2 liters of liquid for the long cooking (I had to in order to cover the meat), half good chicken stock, and half water. This wound up being a good mix, the concentrated broth wasn’t too strong, just really beautifully aromatic, just like it said, and very tasty. The flavors of the spices really came through.

Anyone who has seen belly pork knows that this is about as far from a low fat dish as you can get, but do try this. It’s soooo good! I love it. It’s a fairly authentic Chinese dish from what I understand, and it looks like it is probably the dish that was bastardized in order to create the modern monstrosity of pot noodles.

It’s noodles, it’s seriously good soup, and it’s huge chunks of meat. As you would expect, everyone loved it.

Turkish Village soup with bread and caraway

8tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus extra to serve
1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped
3 large carrots, trimmed, peeled, and finely chopped
4 sticks of celery, trimmed and finely chopped
Sea salt and black pepper
4 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
3tsp caraway seeds
3tbsp roughly chopped flat leaf parsley
1x400g tin whole plum tomatoes, drained of juice and broken up
500g white cabbage, thinly sliced and chopped
1.25 litres water, or 1 litre and 250ml bean liquor
400g cooked borlotti or pinto beans (200g dried weight), or 2 x 400g tins, drained and rinsed
200g day old ciabatta or rustic white sourdough bread, crusts removed and torn into bite sized pieces.
Heat the oil over medium heat, add the onion, carrots, celery, and a pinch of salt and fry gently for 15-20 min, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables begin to turn golden.
Add the garlic, caraway and half the parsley and fry for 1-2 minutes, then add the tomatoes. Cook for another 5-8 minutes, again stirring occasionally. Add the cabbage and water or stock and bring to the boil, then simmer over a low heat for 20 min, until the cabbage is almost cooked.
Add beans and simmer for a further 10 min, stirring frequently until the cabbage is tender.
Remove from the heat and taste for seasoning, then stir in the bread, and the rest of the parsley. Leave for 5 min for the bread to absorb the liquid. The soup should be thick, almost like a stew, if it is too dry, add a little more water or bean liquor. Serve drizzled with extra virgin olive oil.

This is another from The Country Cook. I am totally obsessed with this book right now. Every recipe I try from it, I fall in love with. This one was no exception. It was so hearty, and healthy, and filling and comforting. If you have never tried a bread soup (I only heard of them in the past year or so), try one. The bread makes it thick like stew, it’s like dipping good bread into your soup, but much much better. Right now, bread soups are the only soups that I can get my boys to eat. They like a soup you can eat with a fork.

There’s not much to say about cooking this. It’s really simple and straightforward. If you are pressed for time, you can do all the chopping in advance. I did that, and it made the actual cooking a total breeze. The moment when you add the garlic and caraway mixture, it releases the most amazing smell. I would make it again just for that.

With the beans and the greens and the bread, this is a whole meal in a bowl, and it’s vegetarian/vegan friendly.

Try this!